Union: Managers must pay crash fine

Rail union leaders said that the £4 million Paddington crash fine should be taken from the bonuses of senior Network Rail managers, otherwise the taxpayer would fund the fine.

Keith Norman, general secretary of the drivers' union Aslef, said: "If the managers are not fined personally, it means the fines will be paid by the public.

"This would be a terrible injustice to passengers who would end up having to pay for being killed, maimed and injured.

"Network Rail is funded by the taxpayer. It then collects access charges from operating companies and says that any profits 'go straight back into improving the railway'.

"That's not quite true. A considerable amount goes to paying salaries. In 2006 this included £504,000 for chairman John Armitt, £450,000 for Iain Coucher and £335,750 each for Peter and Ron Henderson. Then there are the bonuses for efficiency - Mr Armitt received a £352,720 bonus last year - and this time it is expected he will pocket in excess of £400,000."

The £4 million will simply go on a "cruel merry-go-round", said Mr Norman, adding: "The fine imposed will come out of company funds and be paid to the Government - which effectively owns the company.

"So the only people to suffer from the fine will be the travelling public because the fine will mean that the company has less to spend on the rail infrastructure of this country. In short - they make literally fatal mistakes and you suffer for it.

"The obvious thing would be to insist that the money for the fine does not lessen the amount available for rail infrastructure. It should, in my view, come from funds that were not going to be used for this purpose.

"I propose that it is taken from the bonuses that are being paid to board members. If they can't live on salaries approaching half a million pounds a year they should make way for people who can. No bonuses should be contemplated until the whole amount of the fine has been repaid from this source."

Aslef also argued that the case underlined the urgent need for legislation on corporate manslaughter which would act as a serious deterrent to those who failed to conform to established safety regulations.